Junk Food

2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13

When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him.

When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD,

and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very many flocks and herds;

but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.

Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.”

Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;

he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;

I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.

For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people." (When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

John 6:24-35

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."

Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"

Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

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I went to Costco on Friday morning.

Costco is an interesting place to be, especially the food section.

My experience is that this happens much more on Saturdays, but even on this Friday morning, there were free samples everywhere.

That’s part of the appeal of Costco, isn’t it? It becomes a family event, because you can just go around the store and find so many free samples. I haven’t been to Sam’s club, and I rarely get to GFS, but I suspect they have similar sampling options there. I even find samples when I go to Meijer’s.  Free samples of foods they want you to try, and like, and buy, and take home.

Sometimes you get to sample what I would call “real” foods – foods like fresh vegetables or fruits that are in or close to their original state – they might be fresh, frozen or coming from a can or jar, but they have not been significantly altered. But most of the foods they have out for sampling have been highly processed, to make them easy to put in a bag or a box or a bar, something that you can grab and go, something that is extremely convenient to prepare – maybe a microwave meal, or a dip for chips or veggies, or a chocolate covered something–or-other. These things typically last a long time, too. If you look at their expiration dates, they can usually stay on your shelf until sometime next year or so.

Is it fair to call this “junk food”? I am taking the leap of saying so, because it is food that has been processed enough, preserved enough that it won’t spoil, that it is primarily made for the sake of convenience – to buy, to store, to carry, to eat. Some people call it “fast food”, even if you can’t get it by going through the drive-thru window. The degree to which it is nourishing to our bodies – well, that is debatable.

More and more these days, nutritionists and foodies of all types are proclaiming the advantages of “real food”. Again, I am claiming the term “real food” to mean the food that is in its original state – as it is grown – and yes, this could mean meat or poultry or fish as well. It is the kind of food that you need to spend some time with in order to make it edible and to get the nutritional benefits from it – even if it just means washing it and cutting it into pieces. Sometimes we have to boil it, or steam it, or sauté it, and sometimes we eat it raw, but it’s close to its original state – fruits, vegetables, dried beans, grains, proteins, and so on. It has also gained the name “slow food”, meaning its preparation is something that we work on for a while, and that we also eat it slowly, enjoying all its flavors, hopefully sitting down to table with others to savor not only the food, but also the fellowship.

In our Old Testament reading today, as well as our gospel reading, we are picking up from where we left off on two stories last week.

In the Old Testament, King David, on a slow day at the palace, has forced himself upon Bathsheba for his own pleasure, and then when he finds out she is pregnant he ends up having her husband accidentally killed in battle, so that he can cover his tracks, and marry her before the child is born.

But today we hear that God is displeased by the thing that David has done. Isn’t it interesting that it doesn’t say, “God is displeased with David”, but that “the thing that David had done displeased the Lord”? So the Lord sends the prophet Nathan to David with a little parable, a story that ought to sound familiar to him, a story that is intended to teach him a little life lesson.

The story is about a rich man who has everything he needs and then some, including a great flock of lambs. Nearby him lives a poor man who has only one lamb, which he loves dearly. The rich man has a guest for dinner, and he decides that it would he does not want to use one of his own lambs for the guest’s dinner, but instead he takes the poor man’s one and only lamb and slaughters it, cooks it up. Clearly this is more convenient for the rich man; it has no impact on him whatsoever.

When King David hears this story, he is livid at the behavior of the rich man. He is just about to order that the poor man be compensated four times over for his loss, when Nathan says to him, “you are that man!”

And David sees for himself that he has sinned against the Lord, and that he deserves to pay the consequences that he was getting ready to dish out himself upon the rich man.

In our Gospel reading, the people who have just spent the day with Jesus, who have just been fed by him on the mountainside, these people continue to follow him, seeking, as he puts it, their daily bread, over and over again. They are putting all their efforts into getting the basic nourishment of their daily bread, and once Jesus has provided it to them, they are content to use this fast food method of sustenance over and over again. It is easy for them, it is a convenient way of getting fed. But Jesus says to them, basically, you are focusing on the wrong thing. Don’t put all your focus on daily bread. Put your efforts into the nourishment that will last.  And the way to do that is to believe in God, to trust in God.

He says to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry; whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Now clearly Jesus is not talking about food here. The bread he is talking about is the filling up of our lives with his love, with the love of God the Father. Jesus is saying to us, don’t spend all your efforts pursuing junk;        instead, move beyond your insatiable appetites for the things that are temporary. Put your trust and your focus and your lives on the journey that I will walk with you, if you believe in me.

This is what King David had lost sight of as well; that his appetite for temporary pleasures had moved him off the path of trusting God, following God. He had settled for junk food. He had veered off of the path that is the way of God, the path that would offer him much greater sustenance, eternal sustenance.

We live in a day and age that offers us      every means of temporary pleasure, unending ways to respond to our insatiable appetites with the convenient solution, the easy reward, the implied security of having whatever we want at the moment, of having more and more and more.

It’s not just food that is junk.

It is the things we consume, and what that does to the earth in their production and their disposal. It is the desires of our bodies, and how that exploits other people in ways we often don’t even think about. It is our craving for comfort and convenience and security, that separates us from those who seem different from us.

In the midst of this, Jesus enters into our hearts and says, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Turn from the idols of easy fixes and easy pleasures and those things that do not sustain you for the long haul. Come to me; I will give you rest. Abide in me. Remain in me.

Our confession of sin this morning is from Psalm 51,which is said to be King David’s response to Nathan’s revelation to him.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.”

These words line right up with what the apostle Paul was saying – I beg you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called. He says we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine…. but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Christ who is the head of the whole body.

This is what Jesus was saying, too – do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life. Do not accumulate junk – junk food, junk pleasures, junk experiences.

Do not let your work be wasted on those things. But work for the food that endures for eternal life – work for the work of God – not out of any need to earn God’s favor, but out of gratitude for the abundant mercy we have already received. Work as those who believe in him whom God has sent. Work as though you are part of the body of Christ – because that is what you are. You are not junk.

You are beloved children of God.

The bread of heaven is here at this table for you and for all humanity. It was broken for you and for all the world. The cup at this table was poured out for you and for all people. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Take Christ, the bread of heaven, into your bodies and let the Savior truly nourish your lives, now and forever.